Key West Highlights

It's been at least a few weeks since we were in Key West, and so far, I've been pretty silent on that trip when it comes to these pages. That's not because it was uneventful. Oh no, it was eventful in spades.

But the other day, I was thinking of something from our trip, and I started laughing to myself. Ko asked what I was laughing at, and when I told him, he got mad.

"You're 54 years old. You'd think that you stop acting like that at some point in your life."

It's a pattern at this point -- when I travel with the kids in their 20s, I might have a night when I party too hard like the kids in their 20s.

Like the cup from Amigos says...

I'm going to save the obligatory boat fiasco and its subsequent fallout for a future post. For now, I'm just going to bullet point some highlights.

• The food at Amigos and Alonzo's Oyster House was killer. Alonzo's also has a good bar, really nice people, and welcomes the dogs to come sit in the air conditioned dining room (even though the outside bar is cool too).
• One day we took the boat out into the anchorage to swim and flot. While we were there, a dolphin popped up right between Crystal and Camilla, then swam under Crystal, and off to who-knows-where. It was very cool.
• We also went out to one of the reefs to snorkel. It was pretty, but I didn't see any fish.

• The Spring Break vibe at the pool at Dantes, and then later in the week, the resort vibe at a hotel pool cabana.
• The A&B marina was quite nice. The dockhands treat you like gold, and the neighboring boats are really something.
• The band at the Green Parrot was a looooot of fun.

So none of that seems too embarrassing. How about these?

One night, everyone had disappeared, leaving just Camilla and me out on Duvall Street. We went in to Irish Kevin's and sat at the bar. The band was bringing pretty young people up on stage and pouring a shot of either Irish Whiskey or Tequila right into mouths.

I told Camilla about how my sister's band would give the drunks tambourines so they could dance around and feel part of the show.

Eventually, we went toward the stage and started angling to get up there. It's easy for a pretty young lady, but not when it looks like she's out with an old man.

Some other group of women honed in on our attempt. They got up there in different combinations several times before the band invited us up.

Finally, we got up there, got our shots, and then we were issued tambourines!

Earlier that night, I had gotten it in to my head that I should walk up to these guys who were hitting on Camilla and Annika, lift my shirt, and told them, "motorboat these titties."

(This is actually the part that got me laughing to myself when Ko dressed me down.)

I didn't do it early, but Camilla though it would be great, and she picked a really big, sort of mean looking dude who was way over by the door at a table for me to do it to as a finale.

I went up to the table and complimented the song the guy had requested from the band. The man loosened up a little; I could tell he appreciated the compliment.

So I lifted my shirt and demanded "motorboat these tittes!"

I tried to draw his reaction, but I can't do it. So I described his reaction to Gemini, and after a few attempts, I got back something relatively close:

(The Hardy Boys were not looking on, concerned in the background. I don't know why Gemini would have added them.)

That capped this particular night, but it wasn't the night I really went hard. I must have had an empty stomach, because on the last night in town, I had a couple of margaritas, and declared myself to be the King of Conch.

That was the night at the Green Parrot, but from there, we went to lots and lots of others. I'm missing some memories. Just this week, I found this exchange from that night with someone named Tristan, who I assume is my best friend now.

My memory picks up at 3:00 AM where I lift my head up after what was probably a short nap. I'm in a chair and holding a pizza. A stranger comes by and excitedly shouts, "It's the King of Conch," while giving me a high five. (Thank you to Annika for getting me home safely.)

That's the way to leave a town!

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